Ramayana: Rise of a Legend (2026) Box Office, Cast & Review

Ramayana: Rise of a Legend is finally in cinemas, and it arrived like few Indian films ever have: with advance bookings over Rs 100 crore, the widest North American release ever given to an Indian movie, and a reported budget of Rs 4,000 crore across two parts. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, the man behind Dangal and Chhichhore, the film stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi as Sita and Kannada superstar Yash as Ravana in his Bollywood debut.

Released in India on 5 November 2026, just ahead of Diwali, and in the United States on 6 November, Ramayana Part 1 is the first half of a two-part retelling of Valmiki’s ancient epic. The opening numbers say audiences showed up in force. The reviews say something more complicated: this is a film people argue about, loudly, and that argument is exactly why it is dominating every movie conversation this week. Here is everything you need to know — the Ramayana box office numbers, the full cast, what critics actually said, and when Ramayana Part 2 arrives.

What Is Ramayana: Rise of a Legend?

Ramayana: Rise of a Legend is the international title for Ramayana: Part One, Nitesh Tiwari’s big-screen adaptation of the Ramayana, co-written by Shridhar Raghavan and produced by Namit Malhotra of Prime Focus Studios with Yash of Monster Mind Creations. The film is mounted on a scale Indian cinema has never attempted before: a reported combined budget of around Rs 4,000 crore for the two parts, making it the most expensive Indian film project ever made, with visual effects from DNEG and a score by A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer working together.

Part 1 covers the beginning of the epic. Prince Rama of Ayodhya defeats the demoness Tataka, meets and falls in love with Princess Sita of Mithila, and their marriage sets in motion the events that lead to exile — the turning point on which the whole story pivots. The film premiered at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on 7 October 2026 before its theatrical release, and it opened in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, including in IMAX 3D. The Indian theatrical cut runs close to three hours and fifteen minutes, while the international version is shorter, listed between 154 and 167 minutes depending on the market.

Ramayana Cast: Who Plays Whom

The Ramayana cast is a genuine pan-India dream team, pulling stars from Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada cinema into a single frame. It is one of the biggest reasons the film became an event before a single ticket was sold.

Ranbir Kapoor’s Rama is the film’s centre of gravity, and also its most debated performance. Some critics found him graceful and moving; others felt the character’s flawlessness made him hard to connect with. Yash’s Ravana, by contrast, is the one thing almost everyone agrees on — more on that in the reviews section below. Sai Pallavi brings a quiet strength to Sita, Sunny Deol arrives as Hanuman, and veteran Arun Govil — who played Rama himself in the beloved 1987 television Ramayan — returns to the epic as King Dasharatha, a piece of casting that landed beautifully with older audiences. Behind the camera, the pairing of A.R. Rahman and Hans Zimmer on the score is itself a headline: two of the biggest film composers alive, building the sound of this Ramayana together.

Ramayana Box Office: The Numbers So Far

If there is one thing nobody disputes, it is that Ramayana opened like a monster. The advance booking alone was historic: according to trade tracker Sacnilk, the film sold more than 36 lakh tickets before release, grossing Rs 130.12 crore in advance bookings worldwide — crossing the Rs 100 crore mark before a single show had played. Ticket prices in Mumbai reportedly touched Rs 3,170 for premium shows on opening weekend.

The film crossed Rs 100 crore net in India within two days, and its worldwide gross passed Rs 221 crore in the same window, per Sacnilk figures reported by The Times of India. Overseas, Sony Pictures gave the film 1,433 screens in North America — the widest release ever for an Indian movie there — and it is projected to earn $7.3 million over its three-day weekend and $10.8 million across the four-day Thursday-to-Sunday frame, landing at number five on the domestic chart. That is a remarkable result for a film released alongside Godzilla Minus Zero and The Cat in the Hat, and it underlines how far Indian cinema’s global reach has come. The one number to watch now is the hold: with a Rs 4,000 crore two-part budget behind it, Ramayana needs long legs, not just a huge opening.

Ramayana Reviews: Critics Are Divided

Here is where the story gets interesting. The Ramayana review picture is genuinely split — this is not a film critics agree on, and the disagreement is the conversation.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the early Tomatometer moved around sharply as the first wave of reviews landed, swinging between 50% and 74% in the opening days. Audiences, meanwhile, rated it far more warmly: the film holds an IMDb rating of 8.4/10 from early user ratings, with a Metascore of 63. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh gave it a perfect five stars. DNA rated it 4.5/5, The Guardian‘s Peter Bradshaw gave it four stars out of five, calling it a thoroughly engaging and rousing epic, and ScreenRant’s Brandon Zachary scored it 7/10, calling it an “impressive cinematic achievement” that leans too hard on spectacle at the cost of character depth.

The negative side is just as loud. IGN’s Siddhant Adlakha called the film dull and lifeless, describing it as a mechanical adaptation that suffers from being split into parts. The Times (UK) gave it 2/5, RogerEbert.com gave it 1/4, and Empire settled on 3/5 — “overlong and overwrought but broadly entertaining”. The recurring criticisms are consistent: the emotional core between Rama and Sita does not always land, the second half slows down, and one reviewer even flagged the awkward use of AI to coordinate lip-syncing.

But the consensus picks are clear too. Yash’s Ravana is the film’s MVP — in a survey of the ten most-liked audience reviews on X, nine praised him, including the mixed ones. The scale, the visual effects and the Jatayu climax win over almost everyone who sees the film on a big screen. And filmmaker SS Rajamouli weighed in with strong praise after watching it, calling the scale and visuals spectacular, Ranbir’s Rama “serene yet magnificent” from the exile portions onwards, and saying he loved the pre-climax and climax. The honest summary: if you go for spectacle, mythology and Yash, you will likely love it; if you go looking for intimate character drama, you may find it wanting.

What Happens in Ramayana Part 1?

Without spoiling the details, Ramayana Part 1 tells the origin stretch of the epic: the young prince Rama’s first great deed against Tataka, his meeting with Sita, their marriage, and the political and family forces that push the couple toward exile from Ayodhya. It is, deliberately, a beginning — the film sets the board rather than finishing the game. Ravana looms over the story more as a gathering threat than as the full antagonist, which is why so much of the conversation around Part 2 is already about how the war with Lanka will be staged. If you know the epic, you will recognise every beat; if you do not, the film works as a self-contained origin story about love, duty and destiny — which is exactly how its official synopsis frames it.

Ramayana Part 2: What We Know So Far

Ramayana Part 2 is expected to arrive during Deepavali 2027, roughly a year after Part 1. That is the window reported by trade press, and it fits the production’s plan to complete the epic across two films. Part 2 will carry the story into its most famous stretch: the exile in the forest, Sita’s abduction, the alliance with Hanuman and the vanara army, and the war with Ravana in Lanka. Sunny Deol’s Hanuman, introduced in Part 1, is expected to take a much larger role. Nothing about the sequel’s casting or release has changed since Part 1 opened — but if Part 1’s box office holds up, Part 2 becomes one of the most anticipated Indian films of 2027 before a single frame of it is shot.

Where to Watch Ramayana: Rise of a Legend

Ramayana: Rise of a Legend is playing in cinemas now — in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, including IMAX 3D shows. It is a film built for the biggest screen you can find, and that is how most of its fans are recommending it: the scale, the sound and the Jatayu sequence are the parts people keep coming back to. No streaming release has been announced yet, and given the theatrical run it is on, an OTT premiere is months away at the earliest. For now, the cinema is the only place to see it.

If you enjoyed this, you may also like our look at the biggest upcoming Bollywood releases of the year in Upcoming Bollywood Movies 2026: Dates, Cast & More, and our coverage of another huge Indian franchise film, Mirzapur: The Movie (2026).

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Ramayana: Rise of a Legend release?

Ramayana: Rise of a Legend released in Indian cinemas on 5 November 2026, ahead of Diwali, and in the United States on 6 November 2026. It is the first part of a two-part adaptation directed by Nitesh Tiwari.

Who plays Rama, Sita and Ravana in Ramayana?

Ranbir Kapoor plays Lord Rama, Sai Pallavi plays Sita, and Yash plays Ravana in his Bollywood debut. Sunny Deol plays Hanuman and Ravie Dubey plays Lakshman.

What is the Ramayana box office collection so far?

Ramayana earned Rs 64.85 crore net in India on Day 1 and crossed Rs 112.90 crore net in two days, with a worldwide gross of Rs 221.05 crore in the same window. Advance bookings alone crossed Rs 130 crore before release, per Sacnilk.

Is Ramayana: Rise of a Legend worth watching?

Critics are divided — the Rotten Tomatoes score moved between 50% and 74% in the opening days — but audiences rate it highly, with an early IMDb score of 8.4/10. Almost everyone agrees on two things: Yash’s Ravana is outstanding, and the film’s scale and visual effects are best experienced on the biggest screen possible.

When is Ramayana Part 2 releasing?

Ramayana Part 2 is expected to release during Deepavali 2027, about a year after Part 1. It will continue the story into the exile, Sita’s abduction and the war with Ravana.